While Bandar Seri Begawan has not articulated claims to reefs in the South China Sea (SCS), since 1985 the Sultanate has claimed a continental shelf that extends beyond these features to a hypothetical median with Vietnam. Malaysia contends Brunei’s maritime limit stops at the 100-fathom isobath from the coast based on 1958 UK Orders in Council. China’s and Taiwan’s claimed areas in the SCS include the seaward extension of Brunei’s maritime claim. China (including Taiwan), Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam do not accept Brunei’s claims.

ia ng

Pingnan
Xun

Qingyuan Wuzhou
Xi Jian g

n Do

Mai-Liao Makung

T'aichung-shih

Hua-lien

Heyuan

Chaozhou Jieyang Puning Shanwei Lufeng

PESCADORES

Ta i wa n
Chia-i T'ai-nan T'aiP'ing- tung tung
Lü Tao
T19

R Y
Tropic of Cancer

U

K

Y

a U ap (J
a

n

se

sh i-

o

to

T

r

e

n

c

h

Xinjing

Luxu

Guiping Guigang
n Jia Yu

an Qi
J

Jiang

Shantou Guangzhou Foshan
Zhongshan

Chaozhou

24

Dongguan
Huangpu Nansha

T10T11 T12

Hsi-yü-p’ing Yü
T13

N

Cao Bang
an gG

Nanning
Zuo

g

Zhaoqing Lingcheng Yulin Bobai Xinyi

Huizhou
Haicheng
Shanwei Guangdong Terminal

Huicheng
27

25-26

Liu-ch’iu Yü

Anping Yun-an Tsoying Ta-Lin-Pu

1979 Malaysian continental shelf limit Philippine (Kalayaan) Hypothethical equidistant line Malaysian-Vietnamese joint CLCS (Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf) southern submission 200-nautical-mile arc drawn from undisputed territory 12-nautical-mile line Spratly Islands12-nautical-mile line
(Under UNCLOS, states are entitled to claim 12-nm territorial seas from any and all of their sovereign and/or claimed territory.)

Sa Pa
R ed

ian

g

n Jia

g

Jiangmen Changsha Gaozhou Maoming Yangjiang

Shiqi Shenzhen
Shekou Yantian

Huizhou

T18

Kao-hsiung
T14

ng ko Me

MALAYSIA

Pingxiang

Zhuhai
Macau
Special Administrative Region
30 29

Malaysia has not formally claimed and speciﬁed a system of baselines in the Baselines Maritime Zones Act ratiﬁed in 2007 but baselines were apparently drawn to determine Malaysia’s territorial sea limits, which are shown on ofﬁcial maps.

Beijing refers to the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Pratas Island, and Scarborough Reef as Nansha Qundao, Xisha Qundao, Dongsha Qundao, and Huangyan Dao, respectively, claiming these as well as all surfacing and undersea features within nine dashes drawn on Chinese SCS maps. China treats Scarborough Reef, also claimed by the Philippines, as part of partially drying Macclesfield Bank (Zhongsha Qundao). China adopted the nine dashes from Kuomintang maps drawn in 1947, resulting in Taiwan’s claims coinciding largely with China’s. China considers the area within the dashes to be part of Hainan Province and has referred to the maritime space therein as Chinese “territorial waters,” an undefined term that does not appear to conform to standard maritime regimes permitted under international law. Chinese archeologists assert the islands in the SCS were the ancient site of fishing and merchant activities and Chinese records note naval expeditions into the South China Sea during the Han Dynasty in A.D. 110 and the Ming Dynasty from 1403-1433. China contends the 1887 Sino-French Convention allocated all features to China east of 108°03’E. China occupies several of the Spratly Islands and completed seizure of all the Paracel Islands from Vietnam in 1974. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam dispute China’s claims.

Yen Bai

Thai Nguyen

So

ng Ky Cun g

Fangcheng

Lianzhou Beihai Wuchuan Zhanjiang Leizhou
Leizhou Bandao

Son La

Ch

Haiphong
Doan Xa

Ha Long

QUAN DAO CO TO
Weizhou 10-3

Donghai Dao
Naozhou Dao Panyu 4-2/5-1

Xijiang 30-2
D1

in es e

Louang Namtha

HANOI

Hon Gai

Cam Pha

Dao Vình Thuc

Shuidong

31

Munin

cla im

k

Hailing Dao

Shangchuan Dao Xijiang 23-1

Lufeng Terminal Huizhou Terminal

Bashi Channel
99101 1

Weizhou Dao

Y’Ami Island

Itbayat Island
98

20

23

Straight baseline turning point
Note: The United States Government does not accept the validity of most of these straight and archipelagic baseline segments. China includes Pratas Island and Paracel Islands in its straight baseline claims; rendering of these baseline points does not denote acceptance or substantiation of these claims.

Approximate shipping lane Naval base Port facility
A port is named after its attributable city unless otherwise labeled

23-28

Cag ayan

Kuala Lumpur drew its continental shelf claim in the Spratly Islands in 1979 to include five islands which Malaysia occupies plus others occupied or controlled by the Philippines and Vietnam. It constructed Layang Layang Resort on Swallow (Layang) Reef. As part of their joint submission to the Commission on the Limits of the Continental Shelf (CLCS) in May 2009, Malaysia and Vietnam defined 200-nm EEZ limits extending from mainland baseline claims, with both states ignoring, but not renouncing, any overlapping jurisdictional effects of the Spratly Islands. Brunei, China (including Taiwan), the Philippines, and Vietnam do not accept Malaysia’s claims.

VIENTIANE
Udon Thani
Sakon Nakhon
Nakhon Phanom

4346 42 41

Chin ese

Gulf of Tonkin
Mui Ron

Dao
3435

Dalapuri Island Fuga Island

BABUYAN ISLANDS
Camiguin Island
San Vicente

47

Babuyan Channel Camilo Osias/ Aparri
Port Irene
3 Iligan Point

96 Claveria 95 Cape Bojeador

Philippine Sea

Yulin

Sanya
40 38-39

37

36

Laoag
94 93

Vung Ang Dong Nai Hon Gio

Currimao

Thakhèk

Dong Hoi
Dao 112 Con Co A11

92

Vigan

Tuguegarao City

Shipping-Related Features
Khon Kean
Lam Nam Chi

113
Chinese-Vietnamese hypothethical equidistant line

15-22

Palanan Point 8 9 10

4-6 7

V i e t n a m c l a i m s t h e Pa r a c e l

Savannakhet

Woody Island

Hue
Chan May

PA R ACE L ISL A N DS

1-3

Ernesto R.Ogbinar/ Poro Point Cape Bolinao

San Fernando

M
g on ek

Baguio

PHILIPPINES

Pa S a

Oil concession block
112

Nam

Concession block number Oil and gas field Oilfield

Nakhon Ratchasima

Mae

Nam Mun

Ubon Ratchathani
Pakxe
ong
lé K
Dung Quat

8-14

Chinese claim

Manila claimed Scarborough Reef as well as a large portion of the Spratly Islands as terra nullius during explorations in the SCS commencing in May 1956. It named the Spratly claim the Kalayaan (Freedom) Island Group and occupies several of the islands. It defines the Spratlys and Scarborough Reef as a special “regime of islands” distinct from the rest of the Philippine archipelago. China (including Taiwan), Malaysia, and Vietnam object to the Philippines’ claims.

Taipei, like Beijing, asserts “historic” sovereignty over all features drawn within the dashes originally shown on a map published by the Kuomintang government in 1947—including the Spratly Islands, Paracel Islands, Pratas Island, and Scarborough Reef. Taiwan occupies several of the Spratly Islands and administers Pratas Island. Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Vietnam object to Taiwan’s coincident claims with China.

Fiber-Optic Submarine Cables VIETNAM
Hanoi claims all of the Spratly and Paracel Islands. However, the extent of Vietnam’s territorial and maritime claims in the SCS has not been delimited in text or on maps. Vietnam considers the Spratly Islands an offshore district of Khanh Hoa Province and occupies several of them. China seized all of the Paracels in 1974. Like the Chinese, Vietnamese archeologists provide their own evidence to support a long historic presence on various SCS features. Hanoi claims that since France controlled both island groups beginning in the 1930s, Vietnam succeeded to those rights after independence. Brunei, China (including Taiwan), Malaysia, and the Philippines dispute Vietnam’s claims.

Note: The South China Sea is defined by the International Hydrographic Bureau as the body of water stretching in a southwest to northeast direction, whose southern limit is 3° South latitude between southern Sumatra and Kalimantan (Karimata Strait), and whose northern limit is the Taiwan Strait from the northern tip of Taiwan to the Fujian coast of China.
0